Link in the Valley
by The Karlminion
Summary: Chapters 7 & 8 have been redone. Very much redone, especially in the second halves. Check it out now, and don't forget to R&R.
1. Prologue: Arrival

Link in the Valley   
Or: Legend of Zelda meets Harvest Moon  
  
Prologue: Arrival  
  
As the train chugged into the station, Link looked at his wife and frowned. Not at her, oh no! But at the memory of what had forced them to take this drastic step. The step of wishing themselves away to a more peaceful place. A place that was intact, preferably, and free of monsters and power-hungry warlords. "Well, I suppose this is it," Link said. Zelda just nodded. The past few days, filled with traveling and adapting to the strange technology this new world possessed, had taken their toll on her. Lines of worry and fear marked her otherwise perfect brow, and Link longed to reach over and smooth them away.  
  
'Damn him!' Link thought. 'Why did he have to unleash that magic? Why did I have to fail? I could have stopped it...' His thoughts were interrupted by the high whistle of the engine as it slowed and stopped. "Link, lets go. This is Flower Bud Village." 'This looks as likely a place as any,' Zelda thought. 'But what's with all the noise? Horses would do just as well, I'll have to do some- No. You aren't a princess any more. You're Link's wife, and we've come here to make a new life for ourselves.'  
  
As they got off, wincing at the noise, an over-dressed, middle- aged man was standing there, nervously eyeing the train. 'Drat these new-fangled gadgets they've invented these days! All the noise and smoke. They should keep stuff like that in the big cities. Oh, I'm forgetting myself!' "Ahem!" The whistle of the train drowned him out, and he and the two young people jumped at the noise. The train started going backward, towards a spur track where it could turn around for its return journey, and as the locomotive went by, the driver waved cheerfully. The three on the platform timidly waved back.  
  
When the train was gone, presumably till next year, the older man tried again. "Ahem! I am the mayor of Flower Bud Village, and you are welcome here. Who might you be?" He looked at them with what he hoped was a welcoming expression on his face, but inside he was wondering. 'Those clothes are funny. I hope these two don't bring trouble.'

Link nervously stepped forward, noticing how the mayor eyed his tunic and Zelda's dress. "Um... hi. I'm, uh, Link. And this is... my wife, Zelda." 'Come on, you can do better than that! This is some dinky little farming village, not Hyrule Castle Town! And what's with him? Hasn't he ever seen royalty before?' The mayor was looking, rather pointedly, at Zelda and her perfect features, her natural grace. Which, however, were currently marred by fear and an anxious stance as she took in the unfamiliar town. 'The Triforce never goes wrong. We wished for a world where peace prevailed, and Ganondorf could never find us. But... this? This is a bit... too peaceful.'  
  
The mayor, seeing how they were acting, naturally thought they were just two young city people with grand illusions come out to take a vacation. He was dreading their reaction to what he was about to tell them. "I'm sorry, but you must be from one of the big cities out east. Well, your vacation will be longer then you thought, because the train doesn't come but once a year." 'Here it comes...'  
  
"Vacation?!?" Link yelled, suddenly angry for no readily obvious reason. "Our home was destroyed, our land was obliterated, we've come more distance then you could ever comprehend, and you think we're on VACATION?!?!" He was about to draw his sword when Zelda stopped him. "Link! Don't! it's just a misunderstanding. He doesn't know about Hyrule, or Ganondorf, or any of that! He's just a simple ruler of this simple farming village!" The mayor was outraged at that. "Simple? My good lady, we are not simple!"  
  
Link and the mayor were about to go to blows(and you know how that would have turned out!), when a sharp voice broke through. "Hector! That's enough! You know better then to act like that." With that, the mayor's wife walked up and inserted herself between the two pugilists. Link was taken aback, and the mayor, predictably, was cowed. "I'm sorry. My husband is very protective of our humble little village. Forgive him." 'Oh, Hector, someday that attitude will get you into trouble, and I won't be there to save you!'  
  
Zelda, sensing an opportune time to step in, did so. "We're sorry as well. Link and I have come a very long way, and we are tired. So if you could direct us to a place to sleep for tonight?" 'Link, I wish that you would remember this isn't Hyrule. You don't have to draw your sword at every little scuffle!' That made her grin resignedly. Link had been fighting since the day the Great Deku Tree had called to him. He'd had almost no rest since then, except when they had gotten married on their fifteenth birthdays. They were only eighteen now, and so much had happened. She felt like she was thirty, she was so drained. 'Ugh, I hope I never get all wrinkled and ugly by then!'  
  
The mayor, recovering his poise, heard this last comment and was able to step in before his wife could say a word. "Certainly! The Budding Rose Inn has a room available. I'm sure Dennis would be happy to clean it up for you. We'll take you there." (Author's Note: in my story, the train station is to the north and west of the town square; the tracks circle around the far side of Moon Mountain from the east.)  
  
As it turned out, Dennis was more then happy to clean up a room for them; business was rather slow now, what with the summer crops in, the merchants passed on to warmer climes, and the vineyard not yet producing. There were four rooms, and only one other was taken. "You'll get room no. 1. Breakfast is down in the common area at 7:30. If you want, I can come and knock on the door at seven; I'm usually up before the sun." 'But I probably shouldn't. They look so tired and drained!' Link accepted, however, and he and Zelda went in and proceeded to sleep through the rest of the day and that night.  
  
End of Prologue


	2. The First Day

Link in the Valley  
  
Or: Legend of Zelda meets Harvest Moon  
  
Chapter 1: The First Day  
  
"Hello? It's 7:00, time to wake up!" 'Ha, they won't be up for another hour or so, judging by how they looked yesterday. I don't think even Jack was ever that tired.' But Dennis was wrong. Link woke up when he knocked, all right. And he was more awake and rested then he had ever been since that first week with Zelda. "Honey, it's seven, you'd better get up if you want breakfast." "Ngghh... lunch... go 'way... zzz..." "Well, all right. Lazy bones, ha-ha!"  
  
Link got into the shower and just stood there for ten minutes, marveling at how well he felt. 'This might not be such a bad place after all, if we could make a few friends. I get the feeling this place doesn't take to outsiders that well. Oh well, neither did Termina, and look what I did there!' He got out and was reaching for his tunic, cap, and underclothes when he saw they weren't there. Instead, a pair of pants and a dark green shirt sat there where his normal clothes had been yesterday. He picked up the pants, looking at them with a funny expression on his countenance. 'Pants. Ugh, did Dennis bring them in? Damn, he's quiet! But... pants? Doesn't he know they're too constricting? I'll have to get some shorts.' "Pants, bleargh!!!" But he couldn't very well go out naked, now could he? So he put the pants on, expecting to be squeezed, and was surprised when they fit well and were rather comfortable. 'Huh! I never thought pants could be wearable! Still... the lack of a breeze and all...' "Link! Are you wearing PANTS?!? Is something wrong?" Zelda rushed to him and put her hand on his forehead. "You don't feel hot..." "Zelda, I'm fine." "But, I thought you hated to wear pants!" "Hylian pants, my dear. These are comfortable, but they still constrict the breeze I like. I'll need shorts." "Silly, just get one of your swords and cut them down to size. I'll do a new hem later." "Zelda, since when do you sew?" "Since before I met you. You've just never seen me. Well, you've woken me up, so lets get your pants cut down, then go get some food."  
  
With the Razor Sword in hand, Link quickly cut the lower half of the legs off of the pants. Then he put them on, along with the new shirt, belt, and his old boots. Looking at his boots made Link think. 'These boots and I have been through a lot. Saving Hyrule, collecting treasure, and riding Epona... Epona!' "Zelda, my horse. You remember her?" "Epona? How could I forget the one horse in all Hyrule no one but the Hero of Time could ride? Oh, Link, don't worry. We'll get you a new horse, and we'll get both of us a new life. Now, where's my dress..." Looking around for her royal dress, she instead found a plain, green, knee-long skirt and matching white shirt and green vest. "Link, where did my clothes go?" "I think Dennis took them to be washed. He took mine, too!" 'Well, these new clothes are more comfortable for the weather, so I'll wear these.' "Zelda? You coming? Oh, did Dennis bring you new clothes, too? You look cute." "Oh, you. Come on, let's go down. I can smell bacon!" The common room was rather empty-looking; only Link, Zelda, Dennis, and a brown-haired young man in overalls, cap, and white shirt. Upon seeing the two of them, he jumped up to greet them. "Hello, my name's Jack. I own the Taylor Farm on the outside of town. You are?" "My name is Link, and this is my wife, Zelda. Nice to meet you." The three sat down at Jack's table, and Dennis walked over. "So, what can I get you? There's bacon, bacon and eggs, or bacon sandwiches. Oh, and your choice of drink: beer, wine, milk, or water." Jack got bacon, and the other two each ordered sandwiches.  
  
They finished their meal, and Jack took them out to show them the village. Everyone they met was nice and welcoming, but Link still had his doubts. 'Hmm. This is a nice place after all. But it looks like everybody works really hard; I hope Zelda will be able to adapt.' Jack then took them up the mountain, where Zelda insisted on trying out the hot springs. Since she would, naturally, be a while, Link and Jack continued their climb.  
  
'They didn't have stuff like this in Hyrule; I might get used to this place. Hee-hee, maybe when Jack goes away Link and I can have a little "fun" in these springs!' She had languished in the hot water for what seemed like forever, but was really half an hour, when someone knocked and a female voice called, "Hello? Who's in here?" 'Oh look, one of the local ladies. Maybe we can get to know each other.' "Don't worry, come on in!"  
  
Someone walked into the dressing room, undressed, and in walked a girl about Zelda's age, with brown hair and blond bangs. Bright green eyes looked Zelda up and down before the face that owned them nodded thoughtfully. "You must be the new girl in town. I'm Karen, Jack's wife. He said he was going in to town to say hello and show you around. Where'd he go?" "Oh, he and Link are out clambering on the mountain. Men," she laughed, rolling her eyes. Karen laughed too, as she eased into the hot, soothing spring water. "You got that right! Jack and Cliff are always rambling the countryside when they're not doing chores." 'She seems nice enough. Boy, that body of hers sure is something! This Link sure is a lucky guy.'  
  
On the summit, Link was admiring the view. "Say, Jack, is this hill the highest place around here?" "Well, yeah, I guess. We're already up in the mountains, so from sea level Moon Mountain is about 7,000 feet high. But if you'll look north, you'll see a ridge. That ridge is actually the Lost Range, which some call the Backbone of the World. Mineral Town is over there, in a valley near some big mines. My cousin, Lance, lives there." 'He calls this a HILL? Where's he come from, some alternate universe?' (Author's Note: Oh, Jack, if only you knew...) "That's Calico Lake, but it's so big Rick thinks it ought to be called Calico Sea. But that has no ring to it, don't you think?" "Yeah, you're right. Calico Lake sounds better. But it sure is big!" 'Damn, its even bigger than Lake Hylia! What kind of place is this?'  
  
Jack looked up and saw that the sun nearing the horizon. "Link, it's getting late. We'd better get Zelda and go back to town." "Yeah, you're right. Let's go!" Stopping at the hot springs, they were surprised to find Karen there along with Zelda. "Karen! I didn't know you were gonna come up!" "I was coming to meet the new people as well. Dennis told me you were taking them on a tour, and Popuri's dad said you had gone up the mountain. I was climbing up when I saw Zelda's clothes thrown up on the wall, so I stopped in, and we've been chatting." "Oh. Well, it's getting late, so come on."  
  
When they got to the bottom, Jack remembered something. "Oh! Link, Zelda, I forgot to show you the farm! Come on, you can stay the night." "Thanks, we'd be glad to." Zelda said before Link could reply to the negative. "Link, Dennis has a business to run, and we can't just impose on him forever!" Link saw the sense in this, so he nodded, and they went on to the farm.  
  
By the time Jack was through showing them around, it was late. "Link. Come with me back to the Budding Rose. Everybody else will be there, and they'll want to meet you properly." Zelda decided to stay behind, so Jack and Link went back into town to the Inn.  
  
When they walked in, everybody looked up and stared at the new guy, except for Popuri's dad Mark, and Rick the tool shop owner. These two they had met earlier, and they waved and went back to their drinks. The others kept on sizing Link up for a moment, then Jack cleared his throat and said, "Everybody, I'd like you to meet Link. He and his wife Zelda are going to be staying with us." "How long?" a short, tidy-looking man in a tux-looking suit, sans jacket, asked. "We're going to be living here." That made everybody break out into low muttering and whispering, whilst Link stood and looked uncomfortable.  
  
"He looks tough. I bet he works hard..." said a scruffy-looking young man with hair like Karen's, but reversed.  
  
"Humph. Another young buck come to take up the land!" said a middle-aged, lazy-looking man.  
  
"... Can he ride? Walks like a rider. I wonder..." said a surly man in a cap and jumpsuit.  
  
"He's tall. I hope he's friendly!" the tidy-looking man said.  
  
"Young man, do you fish?" An elderly chap with hat thrown over and hooks in vest loudly asked. 'If he don't, I'll have to show him. You have to make room for fun, you know!' Link brightened at this chance, walked over to the man, and said, "Why, yes I do! I caught the record-breaker in the lake where I come from!" 'Took me long enough, too. Damned Loach!'  
  
The old man was delighted. "Well, then, me and you will get along just fine! Tomorrow I'll show you the best spots, and I'll give you a rod!" "Now hang on, Ed. Don't overload the boy. He just got here." interjected Dennis, the barman. "Aw, come on, Den! No one else in this place knows the value of a little time off, a little lazing around." "And you don't know the value of a good hard day's work. Back off, Ed, let the boy breathe." Grumbling and muttering curses, Ed returned to his chair. "Sorry about that," the speaker, a big man with bad hair, said. "I'm Darwin, the trader around here. Your name's Link, right?" 'Scrawny boy, no better then Jack. I'll have to work the both of 'em!' "Um, yes, I'm Link..." 'Din save me, this guy's as big as an Iron Knuckle!' He was saved once again, this time by a grizzled man with red hair and beard. "Darwin, leave him alone. You're no better than Ed! Now, you're Link, right? Well, I'm Jared, and the surly guy here is my son, Gray." "Dad..." Gray mumbled, blushing.  
  
Dennis looked at the clock; 9:30. "Jack! It's time!" "Link, we've got to go. Karen has a rule that I've got to be home by ten, and it takes a half- hour to walk home." "All right." They said their good-byes and left, walking home in a companionable silence. When they got home, Karen had their supper ready; spaghetti with meatballs and sauce. They were talking about the day when Link asked Jack the question:  
  
"Jack, could we work here? I'd like to pay Dennis for that one night and breakfast. And I'd feel bad if you let us live here like bums." Jack looked at him, puzzled. "The mayor didn't tell you? He's paid for your night there, and the breakfast. Also, me and Karen talked it over last night, and we're going to let you live here, until the Mountain Carpenters can build you a house." "Fine and well, but how are we going to pay for that house?" Jack started ticking off options on his fingers: "Karen's parents, Kyle and Sasha, usually need all the help they can get this time of year. Mr. Takemura, the potion master, sometimes has trouble finding herbs to brew stuff with. The carpenters themselves will gladly pay for help with whatever project they've got going, and they usually have something or other going. Darwin will pay for, well, anything you put in the bin by 5:00 each evening. The ranch is always short of hands, what with the expansions and new livestock they've got. Finally, this winter the mines open, and Darwin will take that stuff too. Or, if you find some rare metal or bit of junk, Rick will take it from for a fair price. He's always inventing stuff and fixing up what little machinery we have in the village, most of which he owns anyway. Ha, he showed me a transporter a few years ago; it went three feet, took an hour, and when it got to the other one, the tomato was frozen solid!" "That's a lot! It looks like we'll be busy, Zel." "Yes, we certainly will."  
  
It came time for the four of them to hit the sack. "We don't usually stay up like this. Only these few weeks at the end of summer, then the vineyard starts producing, and everybody pitches in to help out. When the money from the wines comes in, there's a small party up there where Kyle pays all those who worked and didn't refuse payment. The rest of the year I'm either working my fields, working the mines, or going to races and festivals. It's fun, but tiring." It was decided that Link and Zelda would get the old bed in the main room, while Jack and Karen would keep their place in the new bedroom upstairs.  
  
End of Chapter 1 


	3. That Night

Link in the Valley  
Chapter 2: That Night...  
  
That night, Link had nightmares.  
  
Nightmares of his battles against Ganondorf and his minions, then Majora's Mask and the ghosts and demons that came with it. Dreams of Hyrule, covered in darkness and gloom caused by an evil, maniacal, power-hungry tyrant; dreams of Termina, during those endless three days when its people were slowly realizing that an insane moon was hurtling down to smash them into oblivion. The people that he had helped, and that had helped him: Talon and Malon of LonLon Ranch; Malon's two twins, Cremia and Romani, who had struggled to look after the Romani Ranch; two gravediggers, so similar and yet separated by such distances; Darunia, and later Darmani the Third, heroes and leaders of the proud Gorons; Princess Ruto and her twin, Lola, both admired Zora females; nameless Deku scrubs in both worlds, scrambling about within their limited forest-swamp existence. All these people, and the two dark shadows that had hung over them all, flitted and danced about in Link's mind, filling his head with macabre images.  
  
The final bit was a horrifying collage of his final battles with Ganondorf and Majora; he was fighting Ganondorf as a child, but Ganondorf was Ganon, and he had Majora's Mask; suddenly, Link was grown, but before his very eyes Majora's Wrath swelled far beyond any reasonable measure, and someone was holding him back with merciless strength: looking down, Link saw two arms, clad in the tattered yet colorful clothing of the Gerudo people; at last, the whirling vortex of energy created as the Triforce, with all its power, granted their desperate wish in those final, chaotic moments as Hyrule was torn apart, torn apart by a mad man's obsession, by a young man's ultimate, utter failure...  
  
Screaming, and someone yelling his name, brought Link out of the dark, dank, twisted pit he was caught in, and he hurriedly sat up in bed, knocking his head against something in the process. Pain lanced its way through his skull, and the screaming stopped, suddenly and mercifully. "Link! Link, say something! Li- OUCH! Ow, Din have mercy... Link! Are you okay?!? You were yelling fit to raise Redeads!" That was when he woke up and realized he was the one who had been screaming. "What's all the racket about!" a voice yelled. Zelda and Link looked up, and beheld Jack, still groggy from sleep, brandishing a rather large sickle in his hands. Karen, eyes wide and filled with fear, cowered behind him.  
  
"What? Oh, Zelda, it was horrible!" and he proceeded to tell her about his dreams. Jack and Karen, ignored for the moment, came down the stairs and listened, wide-eyed, as Link's tale poured forth, and he didn't stop until Jack's sickle fell from Jack's nerveless, trembling hands with a loud thump. "Jack..." "No. Don't say another word. Karen, heat some milk." Karen, who had the look of someone who'd gladly leave the room for no reason at all, and indeed was about to do so, nodded her head and ran, rather faster then would be polite, to the kitchen, where instead of getting milk threw up into the sink, while thoughts of those monsters Link had described rolled through her head.  
  
Link tried to speak again, and Jack stopped him, again. "No. Yesterday, we could all tell that you two are running from some horror in your pasts, and what I've heard just now confirms it. This village doesn't usually ask questions, and we aren't about to, but we sure do gossip. Knowing my wife, she'll have it all out to her friend, Ann, and they'll both throw up together. Next thing, the whole village will know everything she's heard. That may or may not be good, so I'm warning you now; things like this are best left for the morning, when minds are fully active and mouths are under control. We don't want your past to be garbled and twisted by an over-exited wife, right?" "Jack," "Didn't you hear a word I said?!? Not until morning!!" About then, Karen came in with four glasses of warm milk, and took charge. "I heard every word Jack said, and it's all true. We'll all have some milk, get some sleep, and we'll talk this over in the morning." Link finally gave in, and they all drank their milk and went back to bed. The rest of the night was peaceful, and no one dreamed.  
  
End of Chapter 2 


	4. The Next Morning, Part 1

Link in the Valley: Chapter 3   
The Next Morning, Part One  
  
Link awoke in a bad mood. He was tired, more so then he'd been since those Endless Three Days. 'Nayru, what happened last night? I remember waking up, and this horrible dream, but...' That was when it hit him; every last detail, vivid and clear, right upside the head. Predictably, this startled him. "Goddesses!! Did I really...?" "Link? Are you all right?" Zelda, however, recalled the night's events perfectly, and what stuck most were the screams: No! Oh, you bastard, let me GOOO!! Aaaaaaaghh!!!! She was so afraid he wouldn't get up, that she was the one in a bad dream. But then he woke up, and they hit their heads, and it wasn't a dream... Well, it was, but... 'Oh, stop it! You're not thinking clearly, so just stop!' "Link. Come on, the rest of us have been up for a while now."  
  
Link got out of bed, slipped his shirt on, and walked to the table where the others were already seated. Then, Jack spoke: "Okay. Like I said last night, most of us figured out you two were running from something, but we figured we'd take you in as long as we could. However, if I'm right about what I heard, that may not be as long as I thought. But, like my grandfather used to say, you shouldn't ever go off with half the story. So, out with it." Link and Zelda looked at each other for a moment, then Zelda began speaking.  
  
"I am Princess Zelda, of the Realm of Hyrule." 'So, that explains the fancy dress!' "This is my husband, Link, the Hero of Time. About two months ago, an old shadow we had thought banished long ago resurfaced, stronger than ever and more determined to achieve his goals then before. The name of this shadow was Ganondorf, one-time leader of the neighboring Gerudo nation.  
  
"You see, Hyrule existed as a sort of two-sided wood carving: one side was our fair land, and the other was the Golden Realm, a beautiful place in which was kept a relic of incredible power, power from the Goddesses themselves: the Triforce." Zelda paused here, as if remembering something: 'That thing was the cause of all our trouble; without it, Ganondorf would never had gotten all his power.' Zelda did not voice her thought, however, and kept going with her story: "The Triforce is made up of three triangles, each representing the three sources of strength: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Taken one at a time, each triangle is a source of great strength to the bearer. But together, the Triforce will grant you one wish, and the strength of the result depends on the intensity of the wish. If a pure-hearted person with a good wish touches it, all Hyrule will be led into a Golden Age. But if an evil-hearted person with a selfish, dark wish touches it, he will only get the power of whichever source of strength he believes most in.The other two go to others chosen by fate in case one with an evil heart should make their way to the Golden Realm and touch the Triforce.  
  
"Ganondorf was an evil man with an evil wish; to conquer and rule all Hyrule. Long ago he tried to obtain the three keys to the Golden Realm, which are kept by three Guardians. But the Guardians were stubborn, so Ganondorf placed a curse on each of them, or their races. Link could tell you more about that, as he had to go and break those curses."  
  
"Okay. The first curse was placed on the Great Deku Tree, guardian of the Forest. I was ten years old, and I had to break the curse as proof of my courage. I went into the tree," 'Whoa, that must have been some tree! Was it alive or something?' "and fought my way through hordes of insect-like monsters to the heart of the Tree, where a hideous spider-thing called Gohma was poisoning the Great Deku Tree. I fought it, and I conquered.  
  
"However, I was too late to save the Great Deku Tree. In his last moments, he acknowledged my courage and gave me the first of the keys: the Spiritual Stone of Forest." "Wait a second," said Jack. "Why would they give a child such a thing, when a grown man, who could easily overpower you, was looking for them?" "Ganondorf did not know of Link, yet." said Zelda. "Nor did Link know of Ganondorf. That came later, when he went to Castle Hyrule to meet with me. I was in my garden, watching as Ganondorf swore his false allegiance to my father, the King. Link came in just as they were finishing, and as he was standing before my father, Link went to the window and caught his first glimpse of our mortal enemy, though we did not know he was such as yet. That came much later. Then, we saw him through child's eyes; an evil-looking man with dark intentions."  
  
"Anyway, after that I went to Death Mountain, home of the Gorons, where the second key, and the second Guardian, awaited. This time, the curse was on the food source of the Gorons: Dodongo's Cavern, where, supposedly, the best rock sirloins and briskets could be found." 'These Gorons ate rocks? What, were they rocks themselves?' "So, once again I was off to break curses for people I had never met before." And you were only ten?" "Yes, I was only ten. The curse this time was a Dodongo infestation; Dodongos are huge, fire-breathing lizards that like to eat the hard flesh of Gorons. So I fought my way to the center of the cavern, where a pit of lava and the biggest Dodongo ever was waiting. Once again I fought, and once again I conquered.  
  
"Unlike last time, I wasn't too late to save the cursed ones. So the Guardian, Darunia, Big Brother to the Gorons, gave me the second key: the Spiritual Stone of Fire. And so, I was off to break the last curse, and get the last stone.  
  
"The last stone was kept by the Zoras, a water-dwelling race of people. Their Princess, Ruto, had been lost a while ago, and even though they didn't ask me to, I ended up looking for her. It turns out she had been swallowed by their deity, a huge whale-fish called Jabu-Jabu. I went in, and I found a bunch of bio-electric critters. I fought my way through to Jabu-Jabu's stomach, I think it was," 'The stomach of a fish?!? I think I might be sick again...' But Karen wasn't sick, so we continue. "and there I found the biggest critter of them all. That was the last fight at that time, and I got the last key; the Spiritual Stone of Water.  
  
"All three keys were in my possession. So I was bound for the Castle to give them to Zelda, when the gates crashed down and a horse bearing Zelda and her personal guard, Impa, galloped past me. Zelda turned for a second and threw me the final piece required to open the Door; the Ocarina of Time." "Hold on. You said there were only three keys." "I did. But you have to turn them, don't you? Anyway, the Ocarina fell into the moat, and I was about to dive after it, when Ganondorf rode by. But he saw me and stopped, asking me if I had seen a horse bearing a woman and a girl go by. I shook my head and drew my sword, ready for a fight. He just laughed, and blasted me backwards. It wasn't a powerful blast; just a warning. Then he rode on.  
  
"When he was out of sight, I retrieved the Ocarina and went to where the Door was; the Temple of Time. I placed the three keys in these three slots on an altar, and I played the Song of Time. The wall behind the altar, which had previously seemed solid, slid apart, and I walked into the room beyond to find, not a portal, but a sword in a stone. That sword was the Sword of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword, and it was waiting for someone to pull it out and unseal the portal.  
  
"So, I pulled it out. But in one of life's cruel freak turns, the Sword judged me inadequate, and I was put to an enchanted sleep until I was strong enough. That's not all; Ganondorf had followed me, and with the Door open and the Sword no longer keeping the portal sealed, he walked on into the Golden Realm, while I struggled against the waves of sleep that were trying to engulf me. He laughed at me, and walked on, disappearing into the light. I, thinking I had failed, succumbed to the enchanted sleep that was waiting for me, and slept for seven years.  
  
"Seven years in which Ganondorf was not idle. He gathered the power of the Golden Realm and marched out through the Temples of Hyrule, overrunning it in just two years. However, he did not have the full might of the Triforce to back up his wishes of conquest, only the Triforce of Power. The other two went to chosen ones, somewhere in Hyrule. Zelda was one of them: she got the Triforce of Wisdom. But since Ganondorf was looking for her anyway, she had to go into hiding and become a fugitive. The magic of her piece of the Triforce helped, I would imagine." "Yes, it did. But... I'd rather not talk about those years, okay?" The others nodded, seeing the look of pain, suffering, and too much wisdom gained in too short a time in Zelda's eyes.  
  
"I was the other, the one with Courage. I was also the only one who could go forth without immediately catching Ganondorf's attention. So I did, cleansing each of the five temples that had been fouled by his minions, in the process awakening the five Sages whose power would lock Ganondorf away in the Golden Realm, which had turned into a sort of Dark World under Ganondorf's influence.  
  
"The Sages were awakened and I was read to go home, but then Ganondorf found Zelda. She had been disguised as a Sheikah warrior, and had been helping me on my quest." A small smile played on Zelda's lips as Link explained her role in the whole thing. 'I was by his side the whole time, and he never knew. Oh, Link, I wanted so badly to reveal myself to you. But I knew it would have been foolish. But in the end I just had to show myself, and my foolishness almost ruined everything. For he knew you would come after me, and then the Triforce would be one. But that is past, and now we are here.' "Ganondorf had taken her to his tower, and I had to break the barriers to the upper levels. I rushed upward, to where Ganondorf was playing a strange song on an organ, and Zelda was caught in a crystal in the air. He stopped playing, and the Triforce resonated.  
  
"Ganondorf, in his pride and arrogance, challenged me. He sent Zelda above the roof of the castle, and our battle began. Both of us were near death, and one more blow would have been it for either of us. But luck, or fate, was on my side, and that final blow was struck by me. In his last breath, Ganondorf made the tower start to collapse. But Zelda came down, freed from her prison, and we ran to the bottom of it.  
  
"We were just in time. The tower came down in a huge rush of stone and dust. We were so relieved; we would be sending a dead body to the Dark World, not a living tyrant. We were wrong. We had forgotten the Triforce  
  
"A grating noise came from the rubble of the tower. I went to investigate, and Ganondorf's body flew up. He was breathing hard, and it seemed to take all his strength to raise his arm and summon the power of the Triforce. There was a flash of light, and when it faded Ganondorf was turned into a monster! That monster was... Ganon." A shudder ran through Link's body as he remembered that final, desperate battle. "I barely had time to drink a potion before Ganon came at me, surprisingly fast for something so big. We fought for hours; the thing was tireless! I was running out of stamina, and starting to stumble. Ganon seemed to smile, and rushed forward for the final blow. But we had once again forgotten the Triforce.  
  
"It glowed on my hand, and Ganon stopped. I felt a rush of energy, and I looked down to find my wounds healed and my strength returning. Courage pulsed anew through my body. I ran at Ganon, jumped up his arm, landed on his neck and plunged the Master Sword, the Sword of Evil's Bane, through the back of his neck. An inhuman scream tore from his throat as I jumped down. The sages had appeared when Courage had resonated, and they were preparing their spell. Ganon was helpless to stop them, but just to make sure I fired a light arrow into his face.  
  
"Somehow the Master Sword flew away just as the Sages cast the spell. There was a huge flash of light, and when it faded, we were in the Golden Realm. Ganondorf's screams of pain and declarations of vengeance echoing faintly in our ears. It was then that Zelda decided to send me back to my old time, now that Ganondorf was no more, both then and now."  
  
End of Chapter 3 


	5. The Next Morning, Part 2

Link in the Valley: Chapter 4   
The Next Morning, Part 2  
  
"Understand," continued Link, "the Golden Realm was supposedly a secure place; there was no way out if the gates on this side were closed. So the Sages, knowing those gates were closed and securely bolted, with time itself altered to suit their needs, felt safe in sending me back to resume my childhood.  
  
"However, I think it would have been better if I had stayed in that future, with no threat of time's previous flow finding a sudden gap in the banks where none had been before. Tampering with time can do that, you know; gaps in time can be created when you alter the past from the future. Divisions, alternate timelines, can be created. But to my knowledge this was a very rare occurrence.  
  
"Not rare enough, as we would find out to our extreme peril. Sending me back, one who knew of how time had once been, put too much of a strain on time's flow, and a hole appeared. Normally, such holes remain small, dragging only a few into their alternative way. More often then not, these small streams return to the main flow, with no one the wiser. Not even those who had been caught up would tell any difference, unless it happened to them multiple times, or if they were wise. Also, there are those who will know of these holes, and can act to either plug them and bring back those caught, or can guide them to some ending that will heal the flow normally, gently.  
  
"This hole would have remained just another hole, except I was taken on another adventure when I was twelve. An adventure where I once again had to go back and forth through time, with no one but me, the Gods, and those who watch and guide knowing the differences. This time, however, it wasn't seven years, with me sleeping within the Realm, caught within a bubble of frozen time, going back and forth through safe, unobtrusive ways.  
  
"No, this time it was three days, and I was going through the main flow itself! I shoved aside events and altered the flow many times over, as I sought to turn back the Demon Moon and its insane guide. What probably made it worse was that even though I would change things, and they would go back to 'normal' when I traveled back in time again, when I was finally through, all those loose ends were brutally caught up and woven back into the flow of time. And I went back many, many times, leaving many, many loose threads." "Wait. Whoever it was that did the catching up and weaving back, how did they know which threads needed catching and which threads had to be left?" "My masks. The world I was trying to save, their whole culture, their very way of life, revolved around masks. Every time I did a major, time-changing deed, I was given a mask. Some of those deeds seemed small, and the masks apparently worthless, but those masks were my way of keeping track of what I had done, who I had saved. And yes, some threads were left behind, as they would have been of no value. And they didn't matter, because in those threads, time and the world were destroyed by the moon; they took care of themselves (A.N.- you'll never make needless trips in MM ever again, will you? Termina still ends up destroyed if you do!).  
  
"I was twelve years old, that world was Termina, the demon moon was guided by Majora's Mask, an ancient source of evil worse than Ganondorf, and it was worn by a Skull Kid. I had to go back and forth to rescue the Four Elemental Giants, the Guardians of Termina. There's lots of other stories about that time which I could tell you, but not now.  
  
"I returned to Hyrule, supposedly to live out a normal life. And I did, mostly; I had to move away from the Forest because I wasn't young anymore, nor a Kokiri, so I went to Kakariko. All the while, Zelda and I kept in touch, occasionally taking my horse, Epona, out across Hyrule Field and beyond, to see the rest of our land, the land I've worked so hard to save..." A distant look came into his eyes then, and he was silent for a few moments. 'I've worked so hard, but I've never gotten a break. Except when...' "Link? Dear, are you there?" Zelda snapped her fingers beneath Link's nose a few times, and Link came back to reality.  
  
"What? Oh, sorry. Just thinking about stuff. Anyway, somewhere along the way our friendship turned into something serious. The King saw this; hell, everybody saw this, except us. Right, Zelda?" Zelda nodded, a big smile on her face. "But, really, what would you have expected? Link and I were only fourteen, and we had no clue what love was! Our whole lives, after we had known each other, had been spent saving Hyrule, or learning our places. Those first few months, when we were subconsciously realizing it. Oh, we were so awkward! This went on for a while, Link and I looking at each other and blushing, not knowing why. Looking back, I see that was when I started to be aware of Link as a man, not just as a friend and comrade, and I was so confused. Finally, Rauru and Impa took us aside one night and explained things to us. We denied it of course, didn't we?"  
  
"Oh yeah! Why, I was just standing there, staring at my feet, muttering 'no, no!' The whole time Rauru was smiling fit to burst, and Impa was trying to keep from laughing. Finally, Zelda and I looked at each other, and we saw it in each others' eyes. That was when it hit us." Jack and Karen were nodding and grinning; their experience had been similar, although it had happened over a longer period of time, and was rather less painful, them not having had to save Flower Bud Village several times over.  
  
"We were fourteen at the time; when we were fifteen we were married, and I'll tell you now, that was the laziest time of my life, other than right now. No tyrants, no possessed masks, just me and my new bride. Two years passed this way.  
  
"It ended with a Gerudo uprising. The Twin Witches, Koume and Kotake, had prepared a spell to bring Ganondorf back from his prison. No one knew they were doing it; no one noticed them preparing, no one sensed the aura as they got ready to cast it. Until they did. And then, only Zelda and I sensed it, we two who have, apparently, been marked by fate never to rest until that man is finally, permanently taken care of. And if they hadn't have sent me back that first time, without an easy way back, maybe he would've been. But there's no use in hindsight, right?  
  
"So I retrieved my Gilded Sword and a few other things, and I went alone to the Desert Colossus, the giant statue of the ancient Sand Goddess that lies in the middle of Gerudo Valley. I rushed to the center of the caves and chambers that run underneath and behind it. But I was a split second too late; even as I entered, Ganondorf was rising from the portal formed within the Witches' foul cauldron. Something about the Golden Realm had changed him, made him stronger. But it had also driven him completely insane, and those two attributes do not mix well.  
  
"He saw me, his hated enemy, and instead of drawing his blade and attacking, he summoned enormous power and sent it at me. I saw my death in that huge ball of power, and I ran into the passage leading out of the Colossus's center. There, I drew my Ocarina and played the song that would take me to the Temple of Time, where Zelda was waiting.  
  
"I told her of my inability to stop them, of how Ganondorf had reacted to my presence, and I was overcome by a sense of failure so great that I simply dropped to my knees and cried for the first time in my life. I had failed, and who knew who was going to suffer and die because of it? I had no time to wallow in my grief, however, for it was then that the final holocaust began.  
  
"The rock of the Colossus didn't stop Ganondorf's blast for long; when it made its way outside, it simply exploded with all the fury of the Golden Realm. Zelda and I had but seconds to act; we ran into the room where the Master Sword was held, but this time the Triforce was there as well; we weren't about to seal Ganondorf away with the object of his desires, now were we? Holding hands, we ran forward and Zelda touched the golden Triangles. At that moment the holocaust reached us, and we were engulfed in such pain as neither of us had ever experienced. I suspect the Triforce kept us alive and whole; all else was a maelstrom. For some reason, just before we were engulfed, I had reached out to grasp the hilt of the Master Sword; I think now that that was what held us down and kept us from blowing away. I don't know why it didn't come out of the Pedestal in my hands, nor do I want to know.  
  
"For a few moments we stood there, engulfed but not destroyed, then I felt the Sword start to slip out of the Pedestal. Zelda must have sensed it, too, for she screamed something then." Zelda looked down while he said that; she did not want them to see her face burning with the shame. 'Oh, why didn't I think of Hyrule? Why did I only think of us? Oh Goddesses, why?' "The maelstrom stopped then. A different vortex took its place. One no less violent, in fact more so!, but the pain was gone. We blacked out then, and when we woke up, we were here, in this world. Zelda found this slip of paper in her pocket, and a man was walking up to us, asking about train tickets. She pulled out the slip and showed it, and he took it, examined it, used this strange device to punch a hole in it, then he wrote down some directions on the ticket and gave it back to us. A month later, we're here."  
  
Link stopped then; he didn;t think he'd ever said so much in one sitting. He looked at the clock: 'Oh, Din! 12:00 noon!' Jack and Karen were looking at each other, then at the other two, then back. It wasn't as if they didn't believe Link; one only had to look at Zelda, silently crying her heart out, to know that all of it was true. No, they were trying to comprehend how so much could happen to two people, and those two people retain their sanity. Also, what god-awful forces allowed such things to happen? 'Damn, I wish me and Jack never have to go through all that. I wish no one would have to go through all that. Not one person, anywhere, no matter what!'  
  
"Well," Jack began, when Link fell back, fast asleep, and Zelda's head fell into Link's lap as she finally gave in to her tears.  
  
End of Chapter 4


	6. Death of a Princess

Link in the Valley- Chapter 5   
Death of a Princess  
  
Zelda cried into Link's lap for ten minutes, ten long minutes of empty pain that nevertheless was full of all that was dammed up, stagnant, and lost within Zelda's heart. Most of this had been put there over the last month or so, bit by painful bit, but some, near the bottom, had entirely different sources:  
  
A young man, to whom she was now married, standing before her with a ten year old heart while the screams of a damned man echoed, and he was looking at her like she was wise; the first serious training session with Impa, with her being thrown and hit around until she finally got part of it right, but even then: "Zelda! You're doing it all wrong! You block up, not down. Again!"  
  
But the biggest of these old bits had nothing at all to do with that future, but the new one: she saw herself, thirteen and already growing strong and supple, tossing in her bed, caught up in a terrible nightmare: Link, seventeen and with nothing at all in his eyes, was doing terrible things to her. Things that hurt yet sent endless shivers of pleasure throughout her too-young body. She saw herself wake up, and quickly reach down to check. At the same time, seemingly for the first time, brushing that one spot where all women melt. Then, touching it again and again, as the high sensations she remembered from the nightmare, the nightmare that was already receding in the face of these new emotions, went through her all over again...  
  
That isn't the worst of it all, oh no. And anyway, it wasn't so bad, wasn't so big, once Link had showed her how it could really be. But that's old news. The worst of it, the biggest, worst memory, is that moment, nearly a month ago, when she betrayed Hyrule: the pain, all too painful and real this time, beating against her body, trying to tear her apart. All that keeps together is Link's hand gripping hers tightly, as his other grasped the Master Sword, which chose this moment to not come sliding out of the stone and into his hand.  
  
Then, the horrifying moment when it started to slide out, and she knew she had to do something. Or else she and Link would go whirling off, just another bit of debris in that world-consuming holocaust. Her hand was still on the Triforce, and without thinking she said her wish.  
  
"Goddesses! Save us! Save us from this world, take us to a place where we won't have to fight!" With all her heart, she had said it. And of course, her heart was filled with Link. 'I should have used my head, which had concerned itself with Hyrule. But no, in that moment I was selfish, I thought with my heart, and my selfishness has killed Hyrule more surely then Ganondorf had ever intended.' That thought, strong and bold in its apparent truthfulness, made her realize something: Hyrule was dead. Along with all that it stood for, Hyrule was dead. Dead and gone, killed in that holocaust which would haunt her forever. And by her, as well. For she had held the ultimate power in her hand in the final moments, and had squandered it.  
  
'No. You didn't squander anything. You're still alive, Link is still alive, and you'll never have to fight, ever again.' True, but still... 'Oh, shut up! Hyrule is gone! It and all that it stood for, including its princess!' That wasn't right. She was still alive, and Hyrule wasn't. 'You're not listening! The princess is dead, along with the realm she ruled. But you, Zelda, are alive. You aren't the Princess of anything, anymore. You're just Zelda. Why haven't you realized that?'  
  
"I'm not... a princess anymore? No, no I'm not. I'm only Zelda, Link's wife. I should get out of the past, live _here and now_, not there and then." 'That's the spirit! Stop being haunted by that old ghost. It's dead and gone, so let it be that way.' And with that, the pain receded. The memories went away, and Zelda, now that the Princess of All Hyrule was consigned to her place in the grave, was reborn. Reborn as merely Zelda, Link's wife, a wanderer who had found a place to stay. She stood up, and Karen saw the look in her eyes. And knew that Zelda had wrestled down whatever demons had haunted her.  
  
They were about to say something, when Link woke up for the second time that morning.  
  
End of Chapter 5


	7. Horses and Eggplant Seeds

Link in the Valley- Chapter 6   
Horses and Eggplant Seeds  
  
For the second time that day, Link woke up.  
  
The first time, it had been 7:00 AM, and he'd had to tell his story. Now, it was 12:11 PM, he'd told his story, and two things occurred to him: he was hungry, and Zelda and Karen were just standing there. Zelda had the look of one who had been told, after six months in the hospital, "the tumor is benign, so you can go home!" You know, very tired, yet you could bet your britches that as soon as they got a good couple hours of sleep, boy was there gonna be a party. Karen had the look of one who had been at the proverbial bedside throughout the whole traumatic thing, was already planning the party, and wasn't planning on counting the expense.  
  
Link was about to ask, with typical finesse and subtlety, what was so cool, when Jack walked in and announced that he had made breakfast. "Isn't it a bit late for breakfast?" "And a bit early for lunch?" "Well, call it brunch if you want, but whatever you call it the thing will consist of bacon, toast, fresh milk, and juice." "What kind?" "Any kind!"  
  
So they all went into the kitchen and sat down to eat. Link and Zelda commented on how good it was afterward, and Jack blushed. "Ah, 'taint nothing. You ought to come around when I've got more then a few minutes to get stuff ready. Anyway, I don't usually cook; Karen does." "That's right! What do you think you were up to, cooking stuff anyway? Huh?" "Honey, you were sitting there with a blank look on your face, and I tried to wake you up, but you just sat there. And the whole time Zelda was crying into your lap, Link. That's why you're all wet." "Am I? Huh, so I am. Never noticed, that I didn't."  
  
"Anyway, this is a farm, and we've got stuff to do. Karen, you and Zelda go to town and get some eggplant seeds. The first day of Fall is in a couple of days, and I want to be ready. Come on, everybody!" They went outside and were surprised by two things: Jared standing there, with a look of one who has waited a long time, and the cold. "Jared! What's up, what brings you here?" "I'm just fine, Jack. You know, maybe you guys should take those jackets off; it's supposed to be a warm day." Link stayed outside, since hadn't had a jacket on. "Link. You're the main reason I came here. I wanted to do two things: welcome you properly, because what happened at the bar last night wasn't a real welcome." 'Whoa, was it only last night? Damn, seems a lot longer, what with all that happened. Link, my boy, you've really got to keep better track of time!' Aloud, Link said, "Sorry, would you repeat that? I got lost." "Ha. The second reason I came was because Gray, my son, says you look like a good rider. So we were wondering if you could come over and, you know, show off?" The question made Link stop for a second. 'Show off on a horse? What kind of- no. Link my man, these people have never known war. They probably use them for pack animals and such. Maybe races, too. Well if that's the case, then I'll show them what real riding is like! Huh, I just look like a good rider!' "Sure, Jared. I'll come. Let's wait on the others, though." The others came out of Jack's house just then, and they set off; Link, Jack, and Jared to the Green Ranch, Karen and Zelda to Flower Lillian's in town.  
  
At the ranch, Gray was waiting in the yard. He nodded to his father and Jack, and then eyed Link as if appraising him. 'Hmm... bow-legged, glove- roughened hands... yep, he rides. But how well?' "Gray, where's everybody else?" "In the field...come on, uh, Link..." Gray led them to the stables, where a number of horses were stabled. Two in particular caught Link's eye: a tall brown stallion that, even though he stood still, gave off a sense of speed and power; and a young mare, tall and graceful, that rolled her eyes at the humans and reared up onto her legs, as if challenging those who had imprisoned her. But what really caught Link's eye with this horse was her coloring: 'Oh goddesses, she looks exactly like Epona!' "Well... here she is. We haven't named her yet... we aren't keeping her. Cliffguard might..." he didn't finish, but waved his hands vaguely in the air. Link, however, wasn't listening. He was staring at the mare, trying to catch her eye. When he couldn't succeed at this, he pulled out a small, plain blue ocarina and played the song that had calmed this horse's Hyrulian counterpart; he was sure that the two were somehow related, therefore it would work.  
  
Epona's Song, however, doesn't just work on horses: it works on all living things. Music has a magic of it's own, you know, and this song is a prime example; its notes pull out all your worst nightmares, shows them for what they really are in the sane and rational light of day, and makes them disappear, right before your eyes. It all comes back once the player/singer is through, though, but until he is, you're in that special place. With horses, though, the effects last a bit longer. Wild horses become docile, and they will recognize the player as a friend. The player can then ride the horse at will, and can even summon the horse if she is in range. But with magical instruments, you can summon the horse from far away. The wait might get to you, though, if it is a slow horse!  
  
This horse was no different. As Link played, she fell back down onto all fours. The scared look went out of her eyes. And when Link was through, she was looking at him with admiration and docility in her eyes. Gray moved to saddle her, but Link shook his head; he would saddle her himself. Gray stared: 'Boy, he must be confident! That song sure was something, but nothing can tame that horse!' But he stepped back, resigned to another funeral. Much to his surprise, however, Link approached with saddle and tack in hand, and the horse let him tie it on. Then he jumped on with the grace of one who knew how to ride. 'Damn. He can ride better than I can! I misjudged him... oh well. No one can ride that horse!'  
  
Much to his surprise, again, Link guided her to the doors of the stable. Once outside, he kicked her in the sides and let her run. And did she run! 'Wow, its like I'm on Epona again!' At this thought, the memories came forth: standing in the middle of a large field, learning a song from a young red-headed girl, the song one that made him forget, for the moment, all that he was supposed to do; racing effortlessly around that same field, while an evil man mercilessly whipped his horse in an effort to get ahead; the anger at the trick that had been played on him, the joy that went through him as he found a way out, and the exhilaration as his new horse jumped over an impossibly high fence; twelve years old, and the horse was just a filly. But she still raced as fast as ever, as two evil men mercilessly whipped their pitiful asses to get ahead of him; and racing across two endlessly wide fields in two separate but intimately bound worlds, on the same horse...  
  
Link, lost in his memories, didn't hear the cheering from those watching him. "Popuri! He's going faster then Cliffguard!" "He is, Ann, but it isn't him, it's the horse!" "Ann, sweetie, what's going on?" "It's the new guy, Cliff. Don't you remember? That's him, that's him!" "Hey, is he riding the horse that Gray and Jared said was untamable? He is, isn't he! Go Link!" Gray, however, just stared; he had never seen anyone ride so fast, or so well. Then he smiled, remembering that he had raised that horse. Ann, seeing the smile, poked Popuri and pointed. They marveled for a second, and then turned back to Link and the horse.  
  
Link suddenly came back to earth, and he heard the yells. Grinning, he checked his pack and saw that he still had his bow and about 20 arrows. He grinned even wider; one would be enough for this trick. Pulling the bow out and notching an arrow, he guided the horse with his feet to the fence, where the others were leaning. Drawing the string back, he aimed for Gray's hat and fired. The arrow sailed straight and true, and Gray's hat went flying back, to lodge itself in the house. 'Ha! UMA, what in hell does that mean?'  
  
Nobody spoke for perhaps thirty seconds. Then they broke out in more cheers, louder than before. Except for Gray, who was scowling once again as he trudged back to retrieve his hat and hide his self-declaredly ugly red- blond hair. 'Humph. Show off. You'd think he was in a war, the way he sat in the saddle. Ha, but I still raised that horse, that I did! No matter if I can't ride her, she's still mine!' Popuri yelled along with the rest, but then she subsided. "He's so cute, isn't he, Ann? But he's a tad warlike for me." "Yeah, same here. You know, we'll have to corner his wife and 'interrogate' her, eh?" "Yeah! No, wait. We shouldn't, at least not yet. They just got here." "Oh, so they did. You're right, I suppose."  
  
About then, Karen and Zelda came walking up, each with two bags of seed in hand. "Hey guys. What's going on?" "Karen, Karen! You should have been here, that new guy shot Gray's head off with a bow! Oh, hello. Who are you?" "I am Zelda, Link's wife. What's your name?" "I'm Ann, and this is Popuri. You're married to Link?" "Yes I am, and very happily, too." "Oh, don't think like that! We don't go stealing each other's husbands around here!" "At least, not on the edge of fall. Spring, on the other hand..." They all laughed at that.  
  
Meanwhile, Link was bringing the horse back to the stables, where the other three men waited. "Link, you didn't tell us you could ride like that. Why didn't you?" "Well, it wasn't really important to the story. In fact, I didn't even think of it!" "That's all fine and well. The point is, that horse of ours is too much for us to handle. So, how would you like to have it?" "Dad! We can't just give away a perfectly good horse!" "You mean you can't give her away. I know what you put into raising her, son. But the point is, none of us can manage her. He's the only one who can, just like you and Ann are the only ones who can manage Cliffguard. I raised him, and I don't hold a grudge, do I?" "... You're right. Link... sorry." Jared and Jack stared; Gray never apologized. (A.N.- people do a lot of staring here, don't they?) Link, however, did no such thing. Rather, he stuck out his hand. "Apology accepted. Shake?" To everyone's amazement, Gray took his hand.  
  
"Hey! Sorry to interrupt, but it's almost 6:00 PM! We've got eggplants to plant tomorrow!" "Sorry, Karen! Link, we got to go. Jared, Gray, thanks for inviting us." "Yeah. Gray, thanks for the horse. I'm gonna name her Epona." "Epona? After the Horse Goddess?" "No, my old horse was named Epona." "HEY! Come on, we have to leave if want to reach the farm by 9:00!" Jack and Link could tell Karen was getting mad, so they said their good-byes. Link invited Zelda to ride with him, and she accepted. And with that, they left.  
  
They reached the farm by 8:45, and Link went around to put Epona up for the night. While he was leading her to Jack's barn, he thought about the day. 'I sure did talk this morning. I don't think anyone has ever heard the whole thing, except those who read the Book of Mudora. And aside from Rauru, no one did. And since Rauru is dead, and the Book destroyed, no one will ever read it again. Damn. Oh well, that means that Zelda, Jack, and Karen are the only ones who have heard it. Sure is a long story; maybe I should write it down.  
  
'This horse looks so much like Epona it isn't funny. I hope that there aren't any other 'twins' in this world; that would really suck!' He was through putting Epona up; he walked out of the barn and started towards the house, patting Jack's gelding, Melville, on the nose as he went by. In the yard, Jack's dog, a dumb-looking collie named Moe, ran up and tried to lick his face. "Whoa! Down, boy! Ha-ha, down I said!" 'These people are really nice. Except for some of those characters at the bar last night, I might get along with them. And if there are more cute girls like there were at the ranch, I might really get along!' He was at the house; he walked in to the smell of spaghetti. 'Whoa, that smells good! Must be Karen, ha-ha.'  
  
"Link, you're just in time. Dinner's ready!" They all sat down at the table. The meal was mostly silent, and when it was gone Zelda offered to help with the dishes. Link and Jack went into the den to check the weather for tomorrow, the last day of summer: "Good evening, folks! Tomorrow, it's going to be a perfectly warm, clear day, with low clouds near sundown; but nothing that will block out the sunset! And that's it for tonight! In the news..." Jack turned the radio off. "There's nothing ever on in the news; it's all city stuff. Come on, let's get to bed."  
  
End of Chapter 6 


	8. Planting Season, Old Wine, and the Libra...

_I figured out what's wrong with it. Read on and tell me if I got it right._

_**Link in the Valley- Chapter 7  
Planting Season, Old Wine, and the Librarian Girl **_

That night, no one dreamed.

And when Link woke up, his first thought was one of amazement: 'Whoa, no weird dreams! Break out the parades and tell the press, 'cause Link slept in Flowerbud Village and didn't have a single nightmare! Oh, and tell the wife.' "Speaking of wife... Zelda? You awake" "Unngh... go away..." "Come on, honey. We've got eggplants to put in the ground. Fall's here" "What? Oh" And with that, she was completely awake.

They got dressed and were surprised to see that Jack and Karen were already up. "Why didn't you wake us up" "You aren't used to a farmer's life, unlike everybody in town. Well, except Rick." "Rick? Who's he" "He's the local 'frat boy.' He's the only one since Kyle, my father, to go to college. Daddy went so he could learn better ways to raise wine grapes, but Mom says that when he came back he said that the whole thing was a waste of time and money; all they did was party for no reason and sleep with each other. Ha, I can't really think of my father partying for no reason.

"But Rick said that he actually learned stuff. When he came back the first thing he did was to get with Saibara, the blacksmith. The two of them closed themselves up in that shed they use for a week, and when they came out they had all these weird tools and such." "I never went, though I could have because I did well in high school. I graduated third in my class just before my grandpa died; Elli's grandma told me that he had died with a copy of my diploma in his hands. His name was Jack, too; Dad named me after him. Well, all this talk isn't getting breakfast made or the seeds planted. Let's move"

Breakfast was simple planting season fare; rice balls and coffee. Link tried to say that he didn't drink coffee, but Karen shoved it at him anyway. "Trust me, by midmorning you'll be thankful you did drink it, so drink. And the rice balls are all we eat; any more and you could get cramps." Link didn't complain after that; he knew about cramps.

When they were through eating, Jack collected the tools they would need; seeds, hoe, scythe, and watering can. He counted the bags: eight. 'Okay, eight bags of seed. That means eight 3x3 plots tilled up. That means...' "Karen. Take the scythe and cut down the weeds in that section over there. I'll follow behind and till the dirt. Link, can you spread the seeds" "I think so. Is it the same as throwing handfuls of sand" "Pretty much, yeah. Zelda, the watering can is yours. Wait until Link has sown a plot, then bring the can back, like this." He brought the watering can up in a curving sweep, and then brought it quickly back down. Water cascaded forth, drenching Karen but otherwise soaking a perfect nine square foot patch of earth. (A/N- odd how things work that way in HM, isn't it, Constant Reader? All perfect like that...)

Karen stood there, soaked through and rather livid. Jack took one look and took to his heels, dropping the watering can; Karen screamed and ran after him, waving the scythe in dangerous circles. Link and Zelda stared, trying to keep from laughing. "Dark Worlds hath no fury like a woman scorned, you know. Come on, Zel; Karen's got the scythe, so let's work that clear bit over there. I'll hoe, you scatter and water the seeds, ok" "Good idea. Let the real farmers duke it out." They laughed at that, and set to work.

Karen was still chasing Jack, still screaming bloody murder, still having been dry for about four-and-a-half-hours, when Link collapsed on top of the hoe. After five hours he had only tilled up six plots. Zelda was also tiring: seed throwing was easy, but the watering can got heavy after a while. Zelda screamed louder then Karen was when Link fell. She ran over almost faster then Karen had been running after Jack, who was now running towards Link. Karen, abandoning her fury for now, ran after.

Zelda, not knowing what to do and hysterical besides, was on the verge of fainting herself. Jack, having fainted lots of times himself, had always been out of it when they were treating him, and so had no idea what to do. Karen, however, had more experience, so she took charge. She undid the top few laces of his shirt, and then she took a bit of water from the can and splashed his face. But Link didn't wake up; instead he started muttering to himself, and moaning. Karen didn't know what else to do; water to the face usually woke Jack right up, ready for another hour or so; not that she had ever let him.

"Yoo-hoo! Anyone home" They all jumped, except Link who merely muttered a little louder before sliding back into incomprehensibility again; to Zelda, who had focused back on Link when she saw nothing alarming, sliding was just what it sounded like"Damned spider... Navi..." Jack's expression turned from startled fear to puzzlement. "Karen, it's Maria. What's she doing here" Karen was confused too. "She's not wearing that feather anymore. I don't know, though..." Before she could finish, Maria was there. "Hey, guys. What's everybody standing- oh, I see. Here, let me handle this" Sighing like one who had done this many times, she kneeled down and slapped Link several times, hard. Zelda yelled and pulled her back, but it worked; Link was opening his eyes and wincing, even as he tried to sit up. "No you don't! You lie back down, right now! He passed out from working too hard, didn't he" Maria stood up and looked at what Link had done. "With this sun, it could be heat stroke. And this is his first time working like this? Huh, he's pretty tough. Maybe tougher than you were when you first came here, Jack."

"And how would you be knowing how tough he was, Maria" Karen asked with a dangerous glint in her eye. "Because I'm the closest thing this town has to a nurse" the other girl replied with an equal glare"and I thought it would be nice to come by and check on him every now and then. And almost every time, I found him sprawled on these fields in a dead faint. You know, it's a good thing Melville is so gentle, or else I'd never have been able to get him to any shade in time. He had a life before you married him, you know." This whole time, she was gesturing at Jack to pick up Link, who was still incoherent, and take him to the house. They followed after him, Maria still talking. "This was all before Harris... before he... before…" Karen, immediately regretting the conversation, turned and enfolded her in her arms, telling her it was all right, that it was a long time ago. Maria started to cry; the quick little nurse who had so effectively handled the crisis of Link fainting had turned into a heartbroken young woman, sobbing into her friend's shoulder.

When she stopped, Karen gripped her shoulders. "Maria, look. You may still be hurt, but the rest of the village is worried about you." "No they're not! No one bothered with me except Jack and Harris" "Maria! That's not true. The other girls and I were talking the other day about what we were going to have to do to get you out of the funk you were in. And when you walked up today, it looked like you were out of it by yourself. What happened" By now, Maria wasn't crying anymore, but she was still a far cry from the nurse she had been earlier. "Well... I was in the library flipping through some random book and thinking about Harris, when it occurred to me that... he was dead. I mean, really occurred to me. Before then, I- I still couldn't believe that he was gone... in that moment, I did.

"I- I also realized the other things you had said, that everybody else was worried about me, that it was a long time ago, and that I should wake up and get back into life." As she was saying this, the substance was coming back into her; the forlorn look was leaving her face, her shoulders were coming back up. "So the first thing I did was to go to my parents' house and tell them what had happened. My mother was ecstatic: she was really happy for me. Father was a bit more reserved, but I could tell that he wanted to start skipping around singing. That's when it really hit me how much the rest of the village really was affected by my depression. So I took a walk.

"Everybody was very surprised to see me in such good spirits. They all asked what had happened, and I told them that the past was over with. I think Dennis said he was going to throw a party tonight, or something. But what really made everybody jump was that I didn't have the feather he proposed to me with. I don't know why I'd been wearing it in the first place; it was all ragged and torn when I came to my senses this morning. Oh, Karen, I just didn't know how much people cared about me. I'd always thought... But that was wrong. I'm sorry it took all this to make me realize it. I don't know why I slipped, just now."

Karen smiled. "No one's blaming you. Actually, it's our fault if it's anyone's; we always made fun of you and ran off laughing when you showed up. We were jerks, weren't we" she said, hugging Maria again. Maria blushed, but hugged her back. "Yes, you were. You were also, what, seven? People do mean things when they're kids; they shouldn't agonize over it after they're grown up."

By this time Link was awake, but still weak. Maria turned back to him; the nurse had returned. "Heat stroke, like I said. We'll have to go get something from Mr. Takemura. Jack, Karen, stay here and finish the planting; Link will be fine by himself. Um, what's your name" "I'm Zelda. I'm Link's wife." "What, his wife? Nuts, he's taken. Well, would you come with me? You can help out, and if we run into any of the villagers I can introduce you." "Alright. Let's get going. Jack, can we borrow Melville" "Sure, go ahead. Don't ride him too hard, you know how he is." "No, I don't." "Well, Maria can tell you about it."

Maria and Zelda went to the barn, where the horses were kept in a side building. Once inside, Maria gasped at the sight of Epona. "Is that the untamable horse" "Yes, it is. I don't know how Link tamed her, I'll have to ask when we get back. Well, Melville is back here, I think... Ah, that's him." There was an older horse near the back, which looked at them and whickered softly. Melville wasn't really all that much to look back at; dull gray coloring, dirty white mane, and white tail with faint yellow tones don't go well together. He served Jack as a mule, carrying vegetables when the harvest was exceptional. But he wasn't very fast; though he had served to make Jack the horse race champion two years ago, he had tripped on a rock and broke his leg the week after. It had healed, but Jared had said Melville couldn't be rode hard ever again; even though the break had healed clean, it was thin, the cartilage was crooked, and there was a sight crick in the leg that had broke. And because of the accident, they had been forced to castrate him so he wouldn't run off. That was probably the straw that broke his once proud yet gentle spirit; Melville was now almost useless for anything past a slow canter. No one ever made him go past a walk, anyway.

Maria explained all that to Zelda while they were walking out to the stables. Knowing this, Zelda gently got him ready, jumped up onto the saddle, then leaned over and offered a hand to help Maria up. Then they were off.

The ride took an hour and a half, what with the speed they had to take. They finally got to the potion shop, where Maria slid off rather awkwardly, and Zelda jumped gracefully to the ground. They walked to the door, and Maria raised her hand to knock.

The door flew open before she could start, and there he stood, all 4'10" and 75 years of him. He was one of the few people in the village who made Maria feel tall at 5'3". He was smiling fit to burst, for he hadn't had any visitors lately. "Ah yes! Come in, come in and be welcome! Oh, it is my assistant, I've heard all about your recovery! And your friend- Ah, the new girl! Gracious, what a surprise, come in" The bewildered women were ushered into the house and were having cups of tea shoved into their hands before they knew it (A/N- little Japanese men tend to be able to do that really well, keeping you off your feet and talking up a storm while doing business, don't they? And they always have tea! And they always shove a cup at you!). "Now! What services can Takemura and his little shop provide for the two fine young women today, eh"

"Um, my husband had a heat stroke while he was helping out Jack on the Taylor Farm this morning. Do you…" "Yes, yes! I know exactly what he needs" With that, he ran into the back room and swiftly returned with what looked like a bottle of wine. "Moon Mountain Vineyard's second finest wine, and certainly her strongest! 'Moon's Tears,' it is called! Very good, very strong, will revive your friend in one sip! Very rare and expensive too! But I give you discount because you are so beautiful! 4500 gold! Yes, thank you! Now go" The door slammed behind them without them knowing when they got up and went to the door. Zelda found the wine in her hands, and Maria's purse felt 4500 gold coins lighter. "Maria? What just happened" "Um, we got a discount on an expensive bottle of wine from a potion shop? I don't know." "Oh well, let's go! I'll put the wine in the saddle bags, and we'll ride home the same way we came here, ok" Maria said she would walk.

When they were close to the gate, Zelda got off and led Melville by his reins. "It looks like they got the planting done." "Yes it does." They put Melville up in silence, and they walked in the same way. When they walked through the door, Karen saw the bottle of wine and smacked her forehead. "I should've thought of that! And where did he get it? We haven't made 'Moon's Tears' since grandma died! Oh well, another bottle in the cellar won't hurt. Come on, he fell back asleep." Link was still on the old bed where they had put him earlier. Zelda touched his forehead to wake him, and Karen poured a glass of the very strong, not-subtle-whatsoever wine.

Link took one sip and, as Mr. Takemura predicted, he shot up twenty feet and came back down with a clearer head then he'd had in a while. It also hurt, along with his stomach. But he was awake, and that was the main thing. Since it was late, Karen offered Maria a place at their table; beef stew would be tonight's meal. She accepted, and took the chair across from Zelda. At the end, they all declared the stew excellent, especially Jack"Karen, you're good for more then wine pressing; I might keep you" They all laughed at that.

Since Jack and Link were both worn out, and Karen didn't want to go out at night, Zelda offered to walk Maria home. She was about to refuse when she remembered how Harris had died; a knife in the dark, while he was going back to the post office. She shuddered, and accepted.

The walk to the library was uneventful, but then Maria remembered something Dennis had said. "Oh, there's going to be a party at the Inn! I should go, since it's in my honor. You want to come along?" "No, not really. What I want to do is go in and see what kind of books your library has. Would you mind?" "Not at all; here's the key. I'll be back later, ok?" "Sure."

Zelda walked into the library, selected a book at random, and curled up on one of the chairs to read it. Unfortunately, she had chosen a book of very boring poetry, and she was soon asleep.

Maria went to the party, and ended up having a bit too much to drink. So Dennis took her up to one of the rooms, where she promptly fell asleep on the bed.

Link, having worked all day, suffered a heat stroke, and been forced to drink a very, very strong wine, was naturally very, very worn out. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow, before the party at the Inn really even got going.

Jack and Karen, naturally, slept like all farmers do during planting season.

_End of Chapter 7 _


	9. Morning Considerations, Family History, ...

_It's been forever, hasn't it, Constant Reader? But I don't really like this chapter. There's something wrong with it, somewhere in the second half, but I can't tell what it is. Tell me what you think in your review. Please?_

_**Link in the Valley, Ch. 8  
**_**_Morning Considerations, Family History, and the Vineyard_**

It was a few weeks after the end of summer, and Link was lying in bed, still thinking about that day.

Getting a horse was one thing, but getting his old horse back, fresh and strong, was quite another. He had cried himself to sleep, literally, from happiness and joy. Some part of him, the small part that couldn't yet accept the fact that Hyrule was gone, had been screaming _Epona is here! This is all a dream; you'll wake up and be back in your house in the Forest! Wake up, please! _He wanted to wake up and find himself in his old hut, but it wasn't gonna happen. He was here, in Flower Bud Village, and this was his new life.

He turned around, and saw Zelda lying there in the faint light from the east window. He couldn't remember when she had come back, but apparently she had. He scooted over and enfolded her in a gentle hug; she sighed in her sleep and leaned into him. Then he fell back into the dark depths that always grab you every night, usually without fail.

An hour later, they were both awakened by the sound and smell of sausage being cooked. "Morning, Zel. When did you get back?" "Oh, about one. We stayed up reading for a while, and lost track of the time." She thought back to what they'd been reading; a really scary book called _The Dark Tower_, by someone called Stephen King.

Since that one day, Zelda and Maria had become friends. Every other night or so, Zelda would go over to the library, and they would read for a while, sometimes out loud, one to another, or both to themselves. Zelda would tell Maria all about Hyrule when they couldn't find anything to read, or Maria would tell Zelda about the new world she was in.

Karen came down the stairs then, interrupting Zelda's reverie. "Oh, I slept so well! That's what excitement does for you, I suppose. Hey, sleepyheads, you gonna stir yourselves any time soon?" "Yeah, yeah, like anyone could sleep with sausage being cooked. Come on, Link, get out of bed."

Jack had once again made an awesome bit of cooking, and once again everybody dug in with lots of gusto and little manners; not only was there sausage, but there was also pancakes and grape juice. Karen took a sip of hers, then dropped it back on the table with a loud thud. "Oh my god! Jack, today's the first day of the grape harvest up at the Vineyard! We've got to hurry!" Jack froze for a second, then started in on his food with more speed than before. They were done in minutes.

But when they looked up, they saw Link's place empty, and Zelda still eating at her usual sedate pace, for despite the death of the Princess, she was still the product of her upbringing. As was Link, who had picked up the habit of eating fast as a course of habit; years of war and adventuring does tend to do that to you.

Therefore, Karen was beside herself. "Come on, Zelda! This can't wait; it's the _Vineyard_, for love of the Goddess!" Zelda merely looked up and coolly glared at Karen for a second, before replying, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what that is. Nor am I going to hurry; you want me to overthrow a whole life of manners simply because someone I barely know yells at me?

"I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's true; we barely know each other." Karen realized this was true, and didn't take offence, but she was still mad. "You don't get it! The people who run the Vineyard are my _parents_! And besides, Jack and I have always gone up there to help out!" "Well then, go on without me. Let me finish my breakfast, and I'll catch up." Jack saw the sense in this, and intervened. "Karen, she's right. Let's get Link and go."

Right then, Link came in from outside. Apparently, he had been washing his dishes, and himself, in the well outside. "Damn, the water out there is cold! I should have gone up to the hot springs. Oh well, now what were you people yelling about?" "Uh… we have a sink, you know. Where water is pumped right into the house, and it can be warmed up and all, and it's really cool." "Really? In Hyrule, only the Royal Castle had that kind of thing. And here, everyone has them? Damn…" "No matter! Come ON!"

And out they went, at 9:30 AM sharp-ish. Everyone piled onto Epona, who bore the weight without strain, and they rode off like the wind. But instead of directing him to the mountain, Karen told Link to take them to the beach. "We have to pick someone up. He usually comes in today." "And this was why you were in such an all-fired hurry?" She blushed, looking down sheepishly.

When they got to the beach, Link beheld another marvel of technology; a steamboat. On the other side of Calico Lake was Silver City, a large town with lots of shops, a fair share of relatively prosperous fishing concerns, and a mid-sized shipyard and foundry. The trade and business from the Village and the surrounding countryside supported Silver City, and Silver City usually paid good money for all the produce and other such.

Most of this trade was managed by a relatively young man by the name of Kai. With Darwin's help, he had moved to Silver City and set up a trade post for dealings with Flowerbud. This post was an enormous aid, as the local traders had gotten into the habit of swindling the inhabitants of the tiny village. With Flowerbud trade cut off from the worse elements, it finally managed to prosper.

And every fall, Kai would return to the village to assume his old job of Vineyard Hand, at least for a few weeks. Very important weeks, too; the first of three separate harvests in the Vineyard, which was always the biggest and most abundant. It also happened with an unnerving regularity; 1st Fall 26, on the dot, year after year after year.

This year was no different. Darwin's small lake boat, the _Calico Maiden_, chugged into port, and her three men threw the hawsers out to tie her in. Darwin jumped onto the small dock, breathed the air in, and pronounced them to be home. This was Kai's signal to vault overboard, swim to shore, and race into Karen's waiting arms. For she was Kai's sister.

Not directly, oh no. For when Kyle, Karen's father, had gone to college, he had fallen in with an Indian girl. And Kai was the result of this relationship.

Kyle's first instinct was to renounce him. But then he thought of Sasha, and how she had been unable to bear him any children. He thought of what she had said to him before he had gone off; "Kyle, while you're off at that place, could you see about adopting a child for us to raise when you come back? Please?" He hadn't had the heart to refuse her.

Which had left him with the question; how to adopt his own son? He was given the answer when his Indian girlfriend got in a car wreck and died (_A/N- this is called a Deus ex Machina, or God in the Machine_). This was good, in a way; she had never gotten around to legally designating him the father.

So there was Kai, legally fatherless and awaiting kind, loving parents. Along comes Kyle, the mother's boyfriend. He blubbered about infidelity for a while, signed the papers, and Kai was his.

Imagine the surprise on his face when, three years later, he sailed back to Flowerbud and found Sasha holding the hand of a four-year-old girl with brown hair and blond bangs, just like Kyle's mother; Sasha had caught pregnant just before Kyle had left. Both parents were shocked at this turn of events.

Nowadays, Kai lived in Silver City most of the time, and in the fall he came over on Darwin's ship to help out with the harvests. And hang out with his dear and beloved sister, of course.

Now, where were we? Oh yes… "KAREN!" "KAI!" They whirled around in each others arms for a while, then they let go so Kai could turn to greet Jack. "Jacko the Wacko, how ya doin'?" "Kai the Pie-face, I'm doin' fine. Yerself?" "Ah, been worse. But I'm better now that I've got my sister at my side. Yessir, that I am." Karen sighed and held her brother tighter, as if he wasn't real and was going to go poof and disappear. But he didn't, and after a while Jack remembered his manners and turned Kai around to face Link. "Kai, I'd like you to meet the new face around these parts. His name is Link. Link, this here pie-faced old boy is Kai, and he's Karen's sister." "Kai, you said? Well, it's nice to meet you, Kai." "Likewise, man. Hey, you don't look like you're from anywhere near here; where are you from" "It's a long story; I'll tell you later, maybe." "Ha, that's what Jack said when he showed up." With that, they turned and headed back to put the horse away and get Zelda. Then they were headed for the Vineyard, which was about midway up Moon Mountain.

When they walked around the final bend in the path, they saw it. It was bigger than when Karen had married Jack, since trading with Kai had increased the revenues for the whole village. There were now seven rows of grapes, rather than four. And they were all longer.

But you could tell they were different. The original four rows had dark purple grapes, suitable for a less sweet red wine. The newer three had green grapes, which appear rather delicate and fragile. Good for white wine, particularly cooking wine.

These weren't the pride and joy of the Vineyard, however. That was in the back, behind the aging room. There was a single row of grapes here, a shorter row than the rest. They were red grapes, bright red. These grapes could not be eaten, because the sugar was poisonous.

If you processed them just right, you could end up with an extraordinary vintage of wine, the type that Kyle's mother had called _Heaven's Gate_. It can't be consumed fresh, because the sugar needs time to concentrate and settle. This usually takes a few years, at the end of which the bottles are carefully taken up, opened, and slowly poured through a filter made of thin fibers from the grape vines of the red grapes. This removes a good part of the sugar, enough to make it safe for consumption.

The bottles need to be stored upside down, so that the sugar can settle to the bottom. This ensures that the syrupy mess it turns into falls out first, and the good wine afterward. When the vines are saturated, the man with the bottle carefully stops pouring it and puts the bottle back on the rack for another few years. The filter is renewed, and another bottle is taken up and strained. This way, several vintages can be mixed into a single finished bottle of _Heaven's Gate_. It is also why the red grapes are only harvested every few years, to ensure that the bottles aren't upset unnecessarily.

After all that process, one gets a very, very expensive bottle of wine. It ages very well due to the mixture of vintages in each bottle. It is also very, very strong. Moon Mountain Vineyard makes only wine stronger than _Heaven's Gate_; it is called _Moon's Tears_, and while you can drink it, it is so strong that only a seasoned drinker can consume more than half a glass at a time. This is why it is used for the revival of fainted people.

The process that makes _Moon's Tears_ is similar to that which makes _Heaven's Gate_, except that it stops at the saturated vines. You take the vines and put them in a large container of mountain spring water for a while. It has to be from Moon Mountain, too, as Kyle's mom found out one harvest. Or else you get a nasty mess that isn't worth the bottle you'd put it in.

Do it right, and the syrup in the vines will dissolve into the water. Then you dilute it again, and let it sit. Repeat until no more sugar is sitting on the bottom, and you've got _Moon's Tears_. Quite a lot of it, too, which is why you can find more of it than _Heaven's Gate_. But not this year; they aren't ready this year. Next year, though.

But you've got to be careful with both wines. Both are strong and rich, the only real difference being that one is slightly thicker than the other. This didn't stop fans of the Moon Mountain vintages from spending thousands of dollars each harvest on the special wine they make. The other vines make fairly standard wine, but it too is better than most other wines. Some say it's the place, others say it's the people. Only Jack and Karen know that it's because of the blessings of the Harvest Goddess.

The special vines had lain dormant for years, ever since Kyle's mom had died. She was a master at wine making; some said she had a magic touch that made the grapes grow sweet, heavy, and fast. When she died, it became apparent that there was more truth to that story than fiction, because the day after her funeral the special vines withered and died, and the other vines became stingy with their production. Kyle couldn't figure it out; he had gone to a college in a far-off city in the hopes of learning some hidden trickery or other that would entice his vines to go back to the way they were, but he found that college was more about parties, drinking, and sex than education. Or maybe it was just that one college.

Regardless, the Vineyard lay dormant for twenty-two years after Karen's grandma died. Until Jack became friends with the Harvest Sprites. They had told him about the Vineyard, about how Emily, Kyle's mom, had prayed every night to the Harvest Goddess for their grapes to be blessed and protected. When she died, Kyle had renounced his belief in any god out of grief, so the Harvest Goddess withdrew her blessing. In order to get it back, someone in the family would have to pray. Someone would have to believe.

He went to Karen, his close friend and occasional dance partner. He told her about what he had heard, and she listened. She remembered her father talking about how his mom would go out to a tree in the corner of the yard every night, never letting anyone come with her. She remembered how he told her of the tree dying when Emily had died.

So they had gone to the tree one night, bring with them a bottle filled with water from the sacred spring in the forest. They poured the water over the long dead roots, and together they prayed to the Goddess to restore her blessings to the Vineyard. When they finished, the tree came back to life before their eyes, and an extraordinary feeling overcame them.

That winter, they saw the Pika Bunny, which could only be seen by two people who were destined to live their lives together. They were married that spring. That fall, the Vineyard came back to life like never before, even the special red grapes. That was also the year Kyle rediscovered his faith.

Enough about wine and history, though; on with the story! They arrived, Link and Zelda saw the place for the first time, and they were sufficiently awed by the story of how it fell and rose back up. Then Kyle walked out of the aging room. He saw everybody and was about to smile when he realized that the newcomers were there, too. He scowled and blurted out, "What're they doing here? I don't need no amateurs picking my grapes!" "Daddy! Don't say things like that, they're our friends! Right, Jack?" "That's right." Kyle stopped; he loved his daughter very much, and like any father he would have moved heaven and earth for her. "Um… right, sorry about that. I'm Kyle, Karen's father. You are?" "Link. This is my wife, Zelda."

With all the pleasantries taken care of, Kyle gave them the bags that the grape bunches would go in, and the cutters to cut them. A warning to be careful, and they were off to harvest grapes. Karen asked him where Sasha was. "Oh, your mother's inside. She got sick a few days ago, and Maria said she shouldn't be up until the 29th. But don't worry; there'll be plenty of harvesting left."

Harvesting grapes takes a while. Harvesting wine grapes takes even longer, because the bunches grow so close together. And you can't just cut off a big hunk; you'd hurt the vines. No, the smaller bits have to come off, where the vine is thinnest before it branches out again. There are usually fifteen grapes per bunch, and one has to be careful not to cut off any more than one needs to. Link and Zelda caught on quick, though, and soon they were making their slow way along, Kai occasionally calling over with hints and pointers on how to move and cut faster.

About three in the afternoon, Kyle called a halt. "Break time, people! There's water in the shack over here, if you're thirsty." They all went over and sat down by the pump, tired and ready to sit down for a while. They all drank, and after a while they went back to work.

The sun was nearing the horizon when Kyle called a halt. He invited them all in for dinner, and they all accepted. They went in and found Sasha bustling about in the kitchen; the smell of rice and curry sauce filled the air. She greeted Link and Zelda with a smile, but her handshake was weak; she was obviously sick. Karen and Zelda set the table, and they all sat down.

They all agreed, at the end, that it was good. Sasha was proclaimed a top notch cook, and they left to go and get some sleep, Kai to the inn, and the others to Jack's farm. They all slept well, with no dreams or interruptions.

_End of Chapter_


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